DETROIT — The union that once set the gold standard for American wages is giving up pay raises in exchange for a piece of the auto industry’s profits and the promise of thousands of new jobs.

Under agreements struck with Ford and General Motors, most of the companies’ factory workers will get profit-sharing checks instead of annual raises. They’ll also get a signing bonus. In turn, the automakers will increase their workforces and invest billions more dollars in their factories.

It’s an unusual turnabout for the United Auto Workers. For decades, its members’ pay and benefits were the envy of workers around the world, and it wouldn’t hesitate to strike to protect them. But the agreement signals a new reality. After the industry nearly collapsed two years ago, a sobered UAW is no longer fighting the Big Three but fighting to compete against rivals who pay their workers far less.

“We are aware of the competition that Ford and General Motors and Chrysler face,” UAW President Bob King said Tuesday after announcing terms of a new four-year contract with Ford. “If we are going to succeed in the long run and really be able to have long-run security and decent income for our membership, we can’t put Ford and GM and Chrysler at a competitive disadvantage.”

Ford Motor and the UAW agreed on a four-year contract Tuesday, three weeks after the union reached a similar agreement at General Motors. The companies are promising at least 17,000 new U.S. jobs over the life of the contracts, and are offering workers signing bonuses and profit-sharing payments. But the companies will be able to contain their costs by not paying annual raises to their U.S. factory workers and by hiring thousands of new workers at lower wage rates.

King said he understands some workers will be unhappy, but he thinks they can live with the terms. GM workers have already ratified their agreement; Ford workers are expected to wrap up voting by Oct. 14.

“They know the competitive structure as well as I do. They know their family and friends who are underemployed (and) unemployed,” King said. “They know how important it is to have long-term jobs so they can be back in 2015. Maybe we will be able to do some fixed cost increases then.”

Ford workers will get at least $16,700 over the four-year contract, in the form of a $6,000 signing bonus, $7,000 in lump-sum and inflation protection payments and at least $3,700 in profit-sharing this year. That’s more generous than GM’s agreement, which guarantees workers at least $11,500.

Ford plans to add 5,750 U.S. factory jobs under the deal, on top of 6,250 it announced earlier this year, for a total of 12,000 jobs by 2015. It also pledged to invest $4.8 billion in its U.S. factories. When combined with $1.4 billion in investments that have already been announced, Ford plans to invest $6.2 billion by 2015.

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